THE BIG ONE! (Whoops, sorry rpfc)

I like the look of this round, so here are some tips, tidbits and things.

Carlton v Geelong - both teams coming off disgusting performances, looking to make amends. These games have a tendency to be pretty close but I think it depends more on which Geelong shows up. If they're half on the ball, their goal scoring mids will be far too damaging and the Blues won't be able to downhill ski and run forward of the ball. Cats have won the past 4. Cats by 32

Hawthorn v West Coast - West Coast don't mind the G and will be keen to fight back after that terrible display. Hawthorn have a few handy ins but are still missing a great chunk of players and this could be a mighty close result, even an upset. Eagles by 11

Port v St Kilda - no chance of an upset. Hide the children. Port by 83

Bulldogs v Lions - A Brisbane resurgence? The Dogs have been underwhelming to say the least but should enjoy the Lions on home turf. Dogs by 41

GWS v Essendon - This could be anything. Both sides can be mystifying and I have no idea what will happen. Siding with experience, Bombers by 27, siding with vigour and attack, Giants by 27. Either way, it will be 27 points...

Fremantle v Adelaide - could be an intriguing little battle, though I fear Freo's choking hold will be too much for the Crows. Dockers by 32

Gold Coast v Sydney - GC are good at home but will be ruing a missed chance to entrench themselves in the top 4 last week. Sydney with too much firepower with the easy outs could be the deciding blow and they're the form team in the comp you'd think. Sydney by 25

North Melbourne v Richmond - I'm looking forward to this match, but probably to see more of a Roos midfield domination than anything else. Tigers will be keen to impress but I'm not convinced they can against this outfit and I think Hardwick may be in strife. Roos by 45

Melbourne v Collingwood - if the Dees can be anywhere near as good as they have been at pressuring and tackling at stages this year, it'll be exactly what Collingwood hate. I refuse to tip.

Feel good story of the week is undoubtedly Lowden's debut - a great video here of him calling his mum to give her the news.

Thrashing of the week - Saints v Port

Close one of the week - Dees v Pies (?) It's certainly the match of the round IMO.

Upset of the week - Eagles? They who will not be mentioned?

Edit: somehow completely forgot Hawks game is in Tassie despite watching that video! Still reckon it will be close...

I think Geelong will obliterate Carlton tonight. I really hope they smash them into next year.

Actually on Sunday I was told (confidentially) that the Cats had pencilled in the 3 lossed before the season had started. The Swans loss was simply an abberation that happened. He conceded that Sydney do look like they are building a strong team. This 'insider' confidently predicted that the draw now opens up for the Cats and he figures on only 2 more losses between now and the end of the home and away. A Swans Cats grand final beckons apparently. No other team has the credentials I'm told. Hawks are done, Pies are not ready and Freo is too inconsistent away from Perth.

Apart from Season 2014 being just a 2 horse race the other key message for the football public is that Geelong will never bottom out, they will continue to be top 4 team for the foreseeable future as lifestyle (there's not much else to do down at sleepy hollow) and the plethora of outstanding local talent continues ad infinitum.

Anyway I thanked this Cats supporters for his pearls of wisdom and wondered what it would like to talk to a Dees support in 1963.....

Anyone think Carlton may have pulled a dodgy with Thomas' concussion break?

They essentially got 40mins so yeah pretty shadey

Most of what Carlton do is though

Seems I know a lot about football... Ha ha

Jared Rivers is so ordinary

  On 06/06/2014 at 11:58, Mike Nolan said:

They essentially got 40mins so yeah pretty shadey

Most of what Carlton do is though

But the incident happened early in the 2nd,didn't he come back on? Must have been delayed concussion...hah!

  On 06/06/2014 at 08:05, 45HG said:

Hawthorn v West Coast - West Coast don't mind the G and will be keen to fight back after that terrible display. Hawthorn have a few handy ins but are still missing a great chunk of players and this could be a mighty close result, even an upset. Eagles by 11

This game's down in Launceston. Rioli and Lewis are back in and Kennedy's out for the Weagles. No chance of an upset here.

Just landed in Hong Kong and as soon as I managed to get onto wifi I took a look at my AFL App and Carlton was 7 points up at 25 minutes in the last but obviously Geelong did what they're so very good at - a last gasp win.

What is it with Geelong? They seem to be going backwards at the rate of knots.

  On 06/06/2014 at 08:17, Gorgoroth said:

I think Geelong will obliterate Carlton tonight. I really hope they smash them into next year.

I just got home to catch the last 1.30 of the replay. I think it was actually more satisfying the way it panned out. Now, I hope they get thrashed next week. Our mate McLean's poor positioning allowed Selwood to kick the winning goal. Hilarious.

  On 06/06/2014 at 13:04, Whispering_Jack said:

Just landed in Hong Kong and as soon as I managed to get onto wifi I took a look at my AFL App and Carlton was 7 points up at 25 minutes in the last but obviously Geelong did what they're so very good at - a last gasp win.

What is it with Geelong? They seem to be going backwards at the rate of knots.

I think there is going to be a bit of a changing of the guards over the next twelve months. The likes of Geelong, Hawthorn and Freo will be taken by the Suns, Port and Sydney will be around the mark too. There are a lot of ordinary teams in the comp this year. If we continue to show consistency, we'd certainly be value for a top 8 spot, but we won't make the 8. No one seems to be unbeatable this year though. It's arguably the most even competition in years. Anyone can be beat anyone. The AFL would be happy, I reckon. They'd prefer if their big drawers Essendon, Carlton and Richmond picked up their performances though.

  On 06/06/2014 at 15:44, AdamFarr said:

I think there is going to be a bit of a changing of the guards over the next twelve months. The likes of Geelong, Hawthorn and Freo will be taken by the Suns, Port and Sydney will be around the mark too. There are a lot of ordinary teams in the comp this year. If we continue to show consistency, we'd certainly be value for a top 8 spot, but we won't make the 8. No one seems to be unbeatable this year though. It's arguably the most even competition in years. Anyone can be beat anyone. The AFL would be happy, I reckon. They'd prefer if their big drawers Essendon, Carlton and Richmond picked up their performances though.

I think there is some legitimate concern at what Sydney might be able to accomplish with the team they've been able to assemble.

  On 06/06/2014 at 15:48, Chook said:

I think there is some legitimate concern at what Sydney might be able to accomplish with the team they've been able to assemble.

I think Sydney may well win the flag this year, but a few of their star leaders are getting older. Malceski, McVeigh, even Goodes. It depends if they can keep the rest of their team together while the pay Buddy and Tippett.

  On 06/06/2014 at 13:04, Whispering_Jack said:

Just landed in Hong Kong and as soon as I managed to get onto wifi I took a look at my AFL App and Carlton was 7 points up at 25 minutes in the last but obviously Geelong did what they're so very good at - a last gasp win.

What is it with Geelong? They seem to be going backwards at the rate of knots.

I thought Geelong would struggle this season and was surprised by their early form. I think they have lost too many champions and others like Enright are coming to the end. You see it in the mistakes that are coming into their game, Enright missing targets and Jimmy missing goals.

I'm not sure of Scott's coaching, he had a dream debut where he was smart enough not to do anything that rocked the boat but the defensive aspects of their game are poor. It's ok to open up the game down the middle but to often they will blindly kick or handball the ball under pressure to the hot spot from deep in defence and open the goals for the opposition. Their defensive set up at throw ins can be abysmal.

They have some great kids and Hawkins in the forward half so they will not drop right off like we did but they don't look a threat and last night they struggled to beat Carlton who I would't rate better than a bottom 6 club heading in the wrong direction.

I would think we are more than capable of beating either of the teams that played last night, geelongs ego looks to have been destroyed by the swans.

Even stevie j looked to be second guessing himself

To be fair, I felt that was one of carltons better performances for the year. They should of held on but for some questionable skill errors at crucial times from yarran in particular. Was a quality game of footy which the afl needed. What it didnt need was a friday night etihad game between two victorian teams with only 36,000 there. The afl would be hopimg we get 80,000 to make up for that.

Anyone notice that S Martin ( I assume it is x Dee Stef Martin ) got a game this week for Brisbane.

St.Kilda copping a hidding from Port, weve so improved from round 1.

Amazes me how the Western Bulldogs continually escape media scrutiny

Bombers playing very ordinary footy against the Giants. They lead by only 10 at half time. We have a serious chance of knocking them off next weekend.

  On 07/06/2014 at 10:44, hogans_heroes said:

Amazes me how the Western Bulldogs continually escape media scrutiny

Just shows how far we still have to go. Footscray have holes right through their list but the beat us.

Grr but that is reality.

  On 07/06/2014 at 03:55, old dee said:

Anyone notice that S Martin ( I assume it is x Dee Stef Martin ) got a game this week for Brisbane.

He's dominating the hit outs.

  On 07/06/2014 at 10:54, why you little said:

Just shows how far we still have to go. Footscray have holes right through their list but the beat us.

Grr but that is reality.

You know it doesn't work that way 'wyl'. By that logic we should have beaten the Saints by around 50 given their performance against Port today.

I think we've shown improvement almost weekly and hope it continues. This week would not be a good one to take a backwards step.

  On 07/06/2014 at 11:07, rjay said:

You know it doesn't work that way 'wyl'. By that logic we should have beaten the Saints by around 50 given their performance against Port today.

I think we've shown improvement almost weekly and hope it continues. This week would not be a good one to take a backwards step.

i know what you mean rjay. But look at the dogs list. It's bog ordinary. We are improving yes but i am just a little conceerned that we are over hyping ourselves at this point.

Monday is important to keep rising i agree.